2011年12月19日 星期一

Corzine’s best defense is an offensive rule

Oh,Wholesaler of different types of Ceramic tile for your kitchen, the tangled webs they wove at MF Global.Tru-Form Plastics is a one-stop shop for plastic Injection Molding, Their handiwork at the collapsed futures brokerage has tied up assets for thousands of account holders and hurt the integrity of the Chicago futures markets, damaging a signature industry here.

The craftiness was on display at three congressional hearings held this month, two of which were last week. Let’s be fair: No one has been charged with a crime,This page contains information about molds, not the firm’s ousted chairman and chief executive, Jon Corzine, nor Chief Operating Officer Bradley Abelow, nor Chief Financial Officer Henri Steenkamp.The Transaction Group offers the best high risk merchant account services,

All have now sworn to Congress that they weren’t involved in improper transfers from customer accounts and don’t know who was. An estimated $1.2 billion has disappeared that a bankruptcy trustee is trying to claw back, and the company’s three top executives profess ignorance. The statements were greeted with open skepticism from congressmen, politicians who are used to whoppers, but they still rendered the whole inquiry impotent. Despite the advantages of subpoena power and investigative staffs, no one on three congressional panels was able to tease much that’s useful from Corzine and his lieutenants.

Their language was precise.Spro Tech has been a plastic module & Mold Maker, Corzine said he never told anyone to “misuse” customer money. Abelow said he couldn’t recall “any conversation about customer funds being used for anything other than their intended purpose.” Steenkamp said he did not “authorize, approve or know of” any such transfers.

But deep in Corzine’s remarks is a clue of what his real argument will be if the matter ever goes to a trial. His secret weapon will be the laxity of the federal regulator that’s supposed to oversee futures trading, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

It’s known as Rule 1.25 and until the agency modified it after the MF Global scandal broke, it allowed brokerages to invest customer money in debt of foreign nations, the kind of bet that Corzine made.

A year ago, the CFTC thought about eliminating that loophole. It’s a great irony of the Washington insider game that Corzine and MF Global went on record as asking that the loophole be maintained in the name of padding profits.

Another irony: CME Group (CME), the exchange operator whose own behavior in this episode is under scrutiny, expressed the same view. It’s a profit-making company that has auditing responsibility for its customers, and MF Global was among its biggest.

CME has said the brokerage deceived its auditors, breaking federal law. But what incentive did it have to be tough? The triumvirate here — brokerage, regulator, exchanges — is too cozy. Market virtue is expensive, and Congress must decide if the futures industry needs to be taxed for protection from itself.

In the meantime, traders will wonder if Corzine et al. will ever spend a night in prison. On that score, his investments may already be paying dividends.

CLASH OF THE TITANS: It’s not exactly Coke vs. Pepsi or Ford vs. Chevy, but insurance analysts at William Blair & Co. published updates on their outlooks for Aon (AON) and Willis Group Holdings (WSH), the two insurance brokerages with large Chicago operations, and each with their name affixed to one of our skyscrapers. Which one is the better investment?

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